McAllister's Mill Underground Railroad Station

McAllister’s Mill, owned and operated by staunch abolitionist and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania citizen James McAllister, Jr., served as an Underground Railroad station and prominent Gettysburg landmark. Having purchased the property in 1822, McAllister quickly established a home, farm, mill, and his livelihood there.[1] In 1836, McAllister co-founded of the Adams County Anti-Slavery Society, one of the earliest local anti-slavery organizations, which helped to organize a network of "safe houses" around Gettysburg for runaways to seek shelter and food during their journey on the Underground Railroad. By 1850, he began using the mill as a station on the Underground Railroad, harboring fugitive slaves and providing shelter for them on their road north. Witnessing the climactic Battle of Gettysburg, the McAllister’s occupied the land until the 1870s, when James McAllister died.

Allegedly built in 1790 by James Gettys, the founder of Gettysburg, and another unknown man, McAllister’s Mill quickly became a prominent landmark in Adams County. The grist mill, as it existed in the 19^th Century, was constructed on the site of another mill built by Samuel Gettys in the 1760s. James McAllister purchased the property in 1822 and began milling and farming the land. The property, nestled between Culp’s Hill and Wolf’s Hill, bordered Rock Creek and lay adjacent to the Baltimore Turnpike, a major thoroughfare between Gettysburg and Westminster, Maryland. After 10 years of farming and operating the grist mill, McAllister was managing a prosperous business venture. McAllister's land quickly became a community haven and was the site of lively Fourth of July celebrations by Gettysburg's African American community.

On July 4th, 1836, McAllister hosted the first meeting of the Adams County Anti-Slavery Society, one of the earliest local anti-slavery organizations, on his property. Chaired by James McAllister himself, the group sanctioned “bold anti-slavery principles, which were reportedly ghostwritten by Gettysburg attorney and later U.S. Congressman Thaddeus Stevens.”[2] Meetings were not limited to political idealism, though. Members of the society helped to organize a network of "safe houses" around Gettysburg for runaways to seek shelter and food during their journey on the Underground Railroad. Therefore, McAllister’s Mill became one of the first stops on the Underground Railroad established north of the Mason-Dixon Line. Between 1850 and 1858, hundreds of runaway slaves were hidden inside McAllister's Mill under the cog pit, a dirt rut under the basement, and in tiny caves along Rock Creek, all of which were away from the eye of slave catchers.[3]

           The surrounding geography of McAllister’s property and the McAllister family aided the concealment of runaways. At night, fugitive slaves could move under the cover of trees and rocks along the banks of Rock Creek to and from the mill. In addition to playing on the grounds of their farm, the McAllister children helped their father harbor fugitive slaves in the mill. “Is it any wonder I grew up to young manhood hating slavery with a mortal hatred?” James’s son Theodore wrote. As the Civil War broke out, five of McAllister's sons enlisted to fight for the Union army, compelled by their firsthand knowledge of slavery’s evil. Though none of them saw action in their hometown of Gettysburg, Theodore McAllister was captured and held in the infamous Andersonville Prison.[4]

As Confederate commander Robert E. Lee embarked on his invasion of Pennsylvania in the summer of 1863, the McAllister family, along with the rest of the Gettysburg community, would be written in the pages of history. In fact, some of the first bloodshed in Pennsylvania occurred on McAllister’s farm. On June 26th, 1863, as a Confederate advance guard pursued Union cavalry through town, James McAllister found the body of a man killed along the Baltimore Pike bordering his property. The man was George Washington Sandoe, a local soldier from nearby Mount Joy, Pennsylvania, shot down by Confederate pickets as he attempted to jump a fence with his horse. McAllister identified Sandoe and returned his body to his family. A monument to Sandoe’s unit, the 21^st Pennsylvania Cavalry, is located on the McAllister property and marks the location where Sandoe was killed.[5]

On July 1st, Union and Confederate soldiers arrived in force and squared off in the epic Battle of Gettysburg. James McAllister, who was seventy-seven years old at the time, harbored his family and neighbors in their home as shells flew over their house, barn, and mill. The McAllister farm was located just behind Union lines during the battle, adjacent to the Union stronghold on Culp’s Hill which was hotly contested by Confederate infantry and artillery on the second and third days of battle. When the armies finally withdrew, the house and mill served as a field hospital for the Union XII Corps. McAllister's daughters Mary and Martha assisted in caring for the wounded at the hospital in their house. An unidentified number of soldiers were buried on McAllister's property, and he estimated that his buildings and crops received about $1,200 worth of damages during the battle.[6]

Though McAllister’s Mill rose to prominence for its role in the destruction of slavery and one of the subsequent Civil War’s climactic battles, the mill faded into obscurity thereafter. A few years following the war, a flood washed out the dam and the millpond; McAllister's Mill was not prosperous thereafter. James McAllister died in 1872, leaving his mill in disrepair. Today, all that remains of the mill and other buildings is rubble.[7] McAllister's property is privately owned and is not a part of the Gettysburg National Military Park, though the park’s boundaries completely encircle the property. In recent decades, the mill site was used as a municipal dump. Although the National Park Service plans to acquire the property, a Pennsylvania Historical Marker was erected to commemorate the efforts of James McAllister on the Underground Railroad. Now, guided hikes are led by park rangers and historians to interpret the history and tell the story of James McAllister and his humanitarian efforts, securing its place in the Gettysburg lore and the history of the nation at large.[8]

              [1] Steve A. Hawks, "McAllister's Mill," Stone Sentinels, 2021, https://gettysburg.stonesentinels.com/battlefield-farms/mcallisters-mill/

           [2] Jim McClure, "Gettysburg-area Underground Railroad landmark: ‘McAllister’s Mill involves the whole fabric of history’," York Daily Record, 23 Jul. 2013, https://yorkblog.com/yorktownsquare/gettysburg-area-underground-railroad-landmark-mcallisters-mill-involves-the-whole-fabric-of-history/

              [3] Peter C. Vermilyea, "The Effect of the Confederate Invasion of Pennsylvania on Gettysburg's African American Community," http://www.gdg.org/Gettysburg%20Magazine/gburgafrican.html

           [4] McAlister, Lynn. "McAllister's Mill," Today in McAlister's History, 2015, https://macalisterhistory.com/2015/07/04/mcallisters-mill/

           [5] Kristopher D. White, "Gettysburg Off the Beaten Path: The Death of George W. Sandoe," Emerging Civil War, 9 Jun. 2015, https://emergingcivilwar.com/2015/06/09/gettysburg-off-the-beaten-path-the-death-of-george-w-sandoe/

              [6] Steve A. Hawks, "McAllister's Mill," Stone Sentinels, 2021, https://gettysburg.stonesentinels.com/battlefield-farms/mcallisters-mill/

              [7] Ibd.

              [8] Scott Andrew Pitzer, Underground Railroad site recognized, Gettysburg Times. May 4th 2011. Accessed December 15th 2021. https://www.gettysburgtimes.com/news/article_c6a9fd6a-760b-11e0-90e5-001cc4c002e0.html.

"Details of the Underground Railroad in Gettysburg," The Keystone Inn Bed & Breakfast, 11 Aug. 2011, https://www.keystoneinnpa.com/module/news/30426/understanding-the-underground-railroad-in-adams-county

Hawks, Steve A. "McAllister's Mill," Stone Sentinels, 2021, https://gettysburg.stonesentinels.com/battlefield-farms/mcallisters-mill/

McAlister, Lynn. "McAllister's Mill," Today in McAlister's History, 2015, https://macalisterhistory.com/2015/07/04/mcallisters-mill/

McClure, Jim. "Gettysburg-area Underground Railroad landmark: ‘McAllister’s Mill involves the whole fabric of history’," York Daily Record, 23 Jul. 2013, https://yorkblog.com/yorktownsquare/gettysburg-area-underground-railroad-landmark-mcallisters-mill-involves-the-whole-fabric-of-history/

Pitzer, Scott Andrew. Underground Railroad site recognized, Gettysburg Times. May 4th 2011. Accessed December 15th 2021. https://www.gettysburgtimes.com/news/article_c6a9fd6a-760b-11e0-90e5-001cc4c002e0.html.

Vermilyea, Peter C. "The Effect of the Confederate Invasion of Pennsylvania on Gettysburg's African American Community," http://www.gdg.org/Gettysburg%20Magazine/gburgafrican.html

White, Kristopher D. "Gettysburg Off the Beaten Path: The Death of George W. Sandoe," Emerging Civil War, 9 Jun. 2015, https://emergingcivilwar.com/2015/06/09/gettysburg-off-the-beaten-path-the-death-of-george-w-sandoe/